Drill rod rack



@Ct 26, 1948. Q W|EGEL DRILL ROD RACK Filed Sept. 6, 1945 jef/Zw ze,

Patented Oct. 26, v1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRILL non Raon Otto Wiegel, Chicago, Ill. Y applicati@ september c, 1945, serial Ne. 614,773

Y' (ci. 2li-sr) 6 Claims. l

The storage of stocks of long straight rods of `small diameter, classified according to .their than a standard length.V

` The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved form of storage rack for supporting slender rods, such as drill rod stock, in

vertical position and in an arrangement whereby rods of one diametermay be kept separate from those of another diameter and whereby theentire stock may be kept properly classified in progressive arrangement according to size, so that any rod of specific' dimensions can be readily selected at a glance; and to `provide a rack of this kind which may be light in weight but capable of sustaining a comparatively heavy load;k

A specific embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in Which: Figure 1 is an isometric perspective view of a rack designed to hold in graded relation a quantity of drill rod stock, comprising an equal num ber of each size of the rods.

Fig. 2 is a developmentary plan view of one of the shelf elements of the rack of Fig. l.

In the form shown, the rack structure is arranged to be hung against a wall and comprises two or more vertical bars l having hanger apertures 2 at their upper ends and having struck out from their bodies a plurality of forwardly and upwardly 'inclined tongues .3 for the purpose of Wedgingly supporting a series ofhorizontally disposed shelves.

VEach of. the shelves, except the lowermost lone which serves as a bottom support on which the rods rest,.comprises an elongated plate Il having therein a series of perforations 5, of progressively Ireduced areas, arranged in a series from one end ofthe shelf to the other. Each'of the apertures '5- is of similar pentagonal form, pointed at its front end 5, and its side edges 'l diverge rearwardly and then become substantially parallel with each other. The progressive reduction of the areas of the apertures, so as to hold like quantities respectively of the graded sizes of rods, is accomplished as shown in Fig. 2 by making the shelf from a tapered plate and punching the the pointed ends 6 of the apertures.

Each shelf is reinforced at its rear edge by lan angle bar having a vertical leg I2 and a horizonytal leg I3, the horizontal les being spot-welded to the web portions U!- of the plate t betweenthe apertures 5. The horizontal leg or Bange i3 serves as a rear support for the rod bundles in each aperture 5.

The vertical legs l2 of these reinforcing bars are perforated at i5 to provide suitable apertures for receiving the tongues of the hanger bars l. The number of such hanger bars l required is, of course, relative to the length and beam strength of the bottom shelf and the distribution of weight over the saine. Likewise, the number and spacing of the uppery shelves is'dependent upon jthefstandv ard length of the stock rods that are to be provided for and 4the need for intermediate sup- :ports for the slender rods and for rods of less than the standard length.

rIhe .weightof the rods is carried by the base plate i6 on which the lower endsof the bars rest .and this plate is preferably knot perforated at least in thoseparts thereof with ywhich the rods have Contact. This plate forms the bottom part of a rigid hollow beam comprising one of the shelves d which forms the top of the beam, a rear wall il and a front wall i8, The rear wall il has a top flan-ge l 9 that overlays the shelf plate t :and is spot-welded thereto atpoints between the apertures 5.

The front wall 4I8 has lips 2li struck yout of it so as to extend inwardly to wedgingly grip the depending flange iii of the `top plate l and the upstandingflange .iii `of the bottom plate ifi,

.A perforatedplate di corresponding in form .with the shelf .plates i but having its front flange lill bent upwardly is-spot-welded to the front ,plate t8 so as to be housed `in the interior of the 'box-like .structure where it'.serves to keep in proper vertical Ydisposition any short barsthat may be inserted into the apertures li and be of insufficient length tobe supported by an upper shelf.

The angle between the front and rear edges of the plates l is determined by the size of the bars that are to be stored in the first and last apertures of the series so that each of these apertures will hold and approximately define a bundle comprising a like number of its respective size of y rods, and since the stock of drill rods is uniformly graded throughout the whole series, this expedient insures that each of the apertures in the entire series will support substantially a like number of its respective size of rods.

The front plate I8 carries numerical characters 22 as indicia identifying the stock in the respective apertures, according to its customary trade numerical designation and also carries another series of numerals 23 which give the decimal dimensions of the respective rod diameter.

When one of the apertures is completely filled with rods supported vertically in the rack, there Y will be a single rod standingout infront of the others, where it can be readily gripped by the fingers of the person who is about to remove it from the rack; and when the aperture is only partly filled with rods, there is a tendency for them to slip, one over another to bring one to the front when the group is gripped between the thumb and ngers of the persons hand.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the structure shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a rod rack, a shelf plate uniformly tapered in kwidth from end to end and having therein a longitudinal series of spaced apertures of liketapered form with respect to an axis transverse to the plate, the narrow ends of such apertures being uniformly spaced inward from the front edge of said plate and the sides of said apertures extending to the rear edge of th plate, whereby the apertures of the series are graded as to areas by the slant of the rear edge of the plate, and a vertically disposed rear panel having a flange overlapping and connected to saidplate.

2. In a rod rack, a shelf plate uniformly tapered in width from end to end and having therein a longitudinal series of spaced apertures of liketapered form with respect tol an axis transverse to the plate, the narrow ends of such apertures being uniformly spaced inward from the front edge of said plate and the sides of said apertures extending to the rear edge of the plate, whereby the apertures of the series are graded as to areas by the slant of the rear edge of the plate, a vertically disposed rear panel having a top flange overlapping and connected to said plate, and a bottom panel extending horizontally across the vertically projected areas of said apertures.

3. In a rod rack, the combination as a unitary structure of a shelf plate uniformly tapered in width from end to end and having therein a longitudinal series of spaced apertures of like-tapered form with respect to an axis transverse to the plate, the narrow ends of such apertures being uniformly spaced inward from the front edge of said plate land the sides of said apertures extending vto the rear edge of the plate, whereby the apertures of the series are graded as to areas by the slant of the rear edge of the plate, avertically disposed rear panel having a top flange overlapping and connected to said plate, a bottom panel extending horizontally across the vertically projected areas of said apertures, vertical flanges on the front edges of said plate and bottom panel, a front plate supported by said panels, and an internal shelf plate extending across the interior of said st-ructure between said front plate and rear panel and having rod apertures corresponding to and alined with the apertures in said shelf plate.

4. In a rod rack, a shelf plate having therein alongitudinal series of spaced apertures of like tapered form with respect to an axis transverse to the plate, the front ends of said apertures being uniformly spaced from the front edge of said plate and sides of said apertures extending toward the rear edge of the plate, and a bar extending along and attached to the rear edge of said plate and partly overlapping said apertures, the front edge of said bar being inclined with respect to the front edge of said plate, whereby the apertures oi the series are graded as to areas by the slant of said bar,

5. In a rod rack, a shelf plate having therein a longitudinal series of spaced apertures of like tapered form and elongated with respect to an axis transverse to the plate, the front ends of said apertures being uniformly spaced inward from the front edge of said plate and the sides of the apertures extending to the rear edge of said Plate, and a bar extending along and attached to the rear edge of said plate and partly overlapping said apertures, the front edge of said bar being inclined with respect to the front edge of said plate, whereby the apertures of the series are graded as to areas by the slant on the front edge of said bar.

6. In a rod rack, a shelf plate uniformly tapered in width from end to end and having therein a longitudinal series of spaced apertures of like tapered form with respect to an axis transverse to the plate, the narrow ends cf said apertures being uniformly spaced inward from the front edge of said plate and the sides of said apertures diverging rearwardly and extending to the rear edge of said plate, and a bar of uniform width attached to the rear edge of said plate and overlapping said apertures to provide a rearward support for the rods therein, whereby the apertures of the series lare graded as to areas by the slant 0f said bar.

OTTO WIEGEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date '689,667 Blakeslee Dec. 24, 1901 1,066,555 Treiber July 8, 1913 1,156,885 Caine Oct. 19, 1915 1,209,560 Cosner Dec.` 19, 1916 1,226,231 Mack May 15, 1917 1,454,636 Goldberg May 8, 1923 1,916,984 Naken July 4, 1933 2,248,916 Opper July 8, 1941 2,291,381 Drake July 28, 1942 

